Excellent bioprotective properties such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and free radical scavenging activity of curcumins have been receiving considerable attention from scientists and pharmacologist all over the world. Wound healing and antiviral properties of curcumins in addition to its ability for inhibition of superoxide generation by macrophoraging indicate the usefulness of these compounds against human immuno deficiency virus.
The above referenced bioprotective properties of curcumins are attributed to the presence of adjacent phenolic groups and the conjugated diketone moiety of the structure. Naturally occuring curcumin 3 represented by the following formula is found to exhibit better bioprotective activity than the corresponding methylated derivatives. 